2012 Hypnos Overview

The end of another year, already! We didn’t release quite as much music as we expected to during this year just past, but we feel very good about everything we did release. In fact, this idea sums up where this small, independent record label finds itself in 2012…

That is, we’re still humming along, not as big and bold as in the years around the turn of the millennium, when everybody still bought CDs. We have to be more careful about what music we release. It’s just not feasible any more to take a chance on putting out CDs by complete unknowns, and hoping we’ll sell enough copies to cover expenses. We can do limited CDR editions by new, emerging artists, but then many of our customers tell us they don’t want to buy CDRs. We’re trying to find the best path, and really do listen to input we receive. We’d rather have a slower year like this one, when we only released 3 new CDs, than lower our standards and start releasing less distinguished music just to have something more new stuff go put out there.

We spent a lot of time updating the Hypnos web site and blog, then trying to post more regular, consistent updates about what’s going on. We integrated these news updates with our Twitter and Facebook accounts, so if you follow us in one place, you should be notified every announcement.

What you’ll probably see from us in the coming year is not radical change, but a further refinement and focusing-in on what matters most. We have only so much time, and limited financial resources. We try to use these to release ambient music of the highest caliber.

After a short break for the holidays, right now we’re back to working on what will probably be our highest-profile releases in 2013: a pair of 2-CD reissues by Robert Rich. First, Inner Landscapes & Sunyata, then Trances/Drones. We’ll have more information about these soon, as well as releases by other artists that will be forthcoming in the year.

We thank everyone who continues to support small independent labels. Never forget that every CD you buy helps us get that much closer to releasing the next one. In an environment where CDs sell fewer and fewer copies, the music you buy truly makes an impact, and might be the difference-maker for Hypnos or other small labels like us.

You can support Hypnos by purchasing our CDs, whether you get them directly from us or elsewhere, and also by purchasing non-Hypnos items from the Hypnos Online Store. We still sell over 500 titles of ambient, electronic & experimental music by artists and labels from around the world.